15 comments/ 156539 views/ 30 favorites Spending Time with Grandmother By: Moondrift When the television news reader began reading the item about the aircraft crashing in the Amazon jungle, nothing in particular registered with Sally Miles. The reader went on to say that the aircraft had not been located, and the crew and passengers must be presumed to have died in the crash. It was only when the reader said that it was believed some Australians, yet to be identified, had been on the plane that she took a little more interest. When next morning she picked up her copy of a tabloid newspaper her interest in the plane crash sharpened. "Young Man Mourns Parents' Tragic Death," the front page screamed, then the names of the Australians presumed dead were given; Harrison and Angel Harvey. A picture of a tragic looking young man accompanied the article, and in the top right hand corner a circular black and white photograph of a man and woman had been inserted. There was no doubt; they were Sally's son and daughter. The young man pictured, whose name was given as Ethan Harvey, was there son, and therefore her grandson. After twenty years of rejection it was hard for Sally to feel much grief for her dead relatives, but her thoughts were for her grandson. She had not seen him since soon after his birth. Now she wondered if she should contact him. She thought about it for a while, and then went to her writing desk and taking out an address book hunted through it until she found her daughters address. Of course there had been no contact for so many years that they might no longer be at that address. That morning she went to the Post Office and looked though the telephone directory of the state and city where they had lived. They were still listed at the address she had. Returning home she sat at the desk thinking for a while. She could telephone, but she decided against this. A letter would keep a little distance between her and Ethan, which she felt appropriate at that stage. She settled down to write: Dear Grandson, This letter may come as a surprise to you but on hearing about the death of your parents I thought it appropriate to write to you. I do not know what your parents have told you about me, perhaps nothing, but I wondered if you would like some contact with me. Recently bereaved myself I understand how you must be feeling, and so if, even at this long distance, you think I can do anything to help at this time, please let me know. If you choose not to respond to this letter, I shall be sorry, but will understand. Your Grandmother Sally Miles. Several days later Sally received a reply from Ethan. Dear Grandmother, I was delighted to receive your letter. I knew that you existed and lived in Queensland, but mother and father would never tell me anything about you or the reason for the long standing rift in your relationship with them. I wonder if you would be prepared to explain the reason for this rift. Of course if you choose not to tell me, then I must respect your decision, but I hope that this will not mean that any further contact between us will cease. It seems that I have few relatives apart from yourself, and what there are have moved overseas, and so I would welcome continuing contact with you. Your Grandson Ethan Harvey. Sally waited a few days before replying to Ethan's letter. She looked several times at his picture in the newspaper and decided that, despite his tragic appearance he was a nice looking and well set up young man. Like Ethan she had found herself to be without close relatives and what there were had rejected her long ago. She wrote: Dear Ethan, It has made me very happy that you wish to remain in contact with me. I do not know what your situation is, but I wonder if you would like to spend a little time with me so we can get to know each other. If you wish to know what caused the break between myself and the rest of the family, I will tell you as truthfully as I can. You will be very welcome to come and stay with me at Dolphin Heads. If this suits you, please write and tell me. If you are in need of money I am prepared to pay your air fare. Let me know how you feel about us meeting. Your Grandmother Sally Miles. Almost by return post Sally received Ethan's reply: Dear Grandmother, I would certainly like to meet you very much. There is no need to pay my air fare because I have been left comfortably well off. I can arrive on the twenty fourth if that is agreeable, and shall travel by car, since I have now inherited my father's car. Please let me know if this suits. Your Grandson Ethan. After sending a letter confirming the date of his arrival Sally began to wonder if she had made the right move. Since Ethan was sure to ask her about the family rift, and she had said she would tell him about it, she knew she would be risking the loss of yet another relationship before it had really begun. "I must tell him the truth," she told herself, "because if I don't and he finds out later, it will only be worse. If we are to begin a relationship it must be on an honest basis." * * * * * * * * Ethan wondered what his grandmother would look like. No photographs of her, not even old ones, had been kept by his mother. On the basis of other peoples' grandmothers that he had met he put together what might be called a mental identikit. This was of an elderly lady, probably suffering from arthritis, slightly deaf, wearing thick glasses and having false teeth and a squeaky voice; the sort of caricature that every young person seems to have of grandmothers, even thought the reality is often quite contrary to this. He did not even know how old she was, and trying to work it out from his mother's age didn't seem to help. He ended up with an age range from early fifties to mid seventies. It would take him two days to complete the long drive to Dolphin Heads with a night stopover at Goondiwindi just over the Queensland border. He left his house early on the 23rd and began the drive in his late father's Jaguar, a considerable advance on the Toyota he had been given for his eighteenth birthday. Leaving Goondiwindi the next day his excitement mounted. His paternal grandparents were both dead, and even while alive he had seen little of them, because like his maternal grandmother they lived a long way from Adelaide. His maternal grandfather he had never met, and from the little his parents told him, he had been divorced from his grandmother and gone overseas to live, and he had died there. Ethan traveled east until he met the coast road and then turned north. Late afternoon on the 24th he entered Dolphin Heads, and after making a few enquiries he found the street in which his grandmother lived. Her house was his first surprise. For no particular reason he had imagined her living in, not poverty, but in modest circumstances. The house was single storied and stretched out laterally over a wide block. Appropriately it was named, "Long House." Ethan was no judge of architecture but he thought place looked as if is had been built some time in the late nineteenth century, it's wide verandah being something of a give away in this respect. He hesitated for a moment at the front gate, and then opening it, made his way to the front door. It had an old fashioned bell pull and a brass lion headed knocker. He chose the bell because he had never used or even come across one like this before. There was a distant clang, a pause, and then footsteps approached. The door was opened and Ethan got his second surprise; the woman who stood before him in no way fitted his arthritic little granny image. To begin with she was fairly tall for a woman - about three inches shorter than him so he judged her to be around five feet nine. She was dressed in cream slacks that indicated that she had long legs, but how shapely he could obviously not see. She wore a matching cream shirt and its buttons were undone to show just a little of her cleavage. He was unable to determine her age but she certainly had silver hair that was parted in the middle and then flowed down the sides of her face like a curtain, to spill out over he shoulders. Confused Ethan said, "Er... I...I've come see my grandmother...er... Sally Miles." "That's me," Sally said brightly, "and you must be Ethan, I can recognise you from your photo in the news paper." "Er...yes...I'm...er..." There was a pause as they seemed to be having difficulty in knowing how to greet each other. Were they supposed to hug and kiss? Sally dealt with the matter as she extended her hand and said, "Welcome to Dolphin Heads." As he took her hand in his Ethan noticed her long fingers. "Yes I...er...thank you." He had made up so many speeches he'd intended to make when meeting Sally, but they seemed to have got lost irretrievably in some corner of his brain, and so somewhat lamely he said, "I'm...ah...pleased to meet you." "Come in...come in," Sally said. She ushered him along a passage and into a gleaming kitchen and indicated for him to sit down. Ethan had been sitting down in the car for hours, but he was glad to sit now as he tried to come to terms with the now revised image of his grandmother. "Have you eaten?" Sally asked. "Not since I stopped for lunch at...at...er...some place." "Would you like to eat now or would you like to see your room first?" "Oh, well...er...whatever's convenient for you," Ethan replied. "In that case, I'll show you your room first." Ethan wished he'd said he'd eat first because he was starving. The bedroom matched Ethan's confused state. At first glance it looked rather masculine, with its dark wood furniture that stood out against the beige walls; but looking at the bed he was struck by its odd shape. It had the ordinary straight head board but the rest of it was semi-circular, rather like a half moon and it had pale green covers. The curtains matched the bed covers and between them these two seemed to give the room a feminine touch. Then he noticed that in the ceiling above the bed was a mirror. "Will this do?" Sally asked. "There are a couple more bedrooms but they only have single beds and so I thought..." "This will be fine, grandmother," Ethan replied. "Good, I thought you might like it," Sally said, "Shall we bring your things in now?" "Oh...er...yes...I suppose...yes..." They went out to the car and Ethan said that she needn't help, but Sally laughed and said, "A first meeting with my only grandson, of course I must help." They unloaded his things from the car and Sally said, "You'd better put the car in the garage and I'll go and get the meal ready -- by the way, I'm a vegetarian and I've made us Potatoes au Gratin for this evening, but if you like meat I can get some for you tomorrow." "No...no," Ethan said, "Whatever you're having will be fine." He thought that this might oil the wheels of their relationship a little. He went out to the car and drove it into the spacious garage, parking beside small Citroen. He noticed racks with tools hanging from them and a band saw at one end of the garage. * * * * * * * * Back in the kitchen Sally was ready to serve. They ate in a small dining room. As they ate their talk was on safe subjects, like Ethan's drive from Adelaide, how long Sally had lived in the house, and was Ethan sure that he didn't want her to get some meat the next day. They were rather like two boxers in the ring, sizing each other up and waiting for an opening. Ethan surreptitiously took in more details of Sally as they ate and talked. He found it hard to categorize her face. It was neither beautiful nor ugly and he settled for "striking." Under her thick silver hair her forehead was almost as smooth as a child's; and child-like too was her short, slightly tilted nose. Between narrow lids her green eyes were alive with what might be construed as mischievousness, and at their corners were some fine lines, and these together with a two slight furrows between her eyebrows were the only real indications of age. Her full lips were finely cut, even voluptuous with almost tremulously sensitive lips that looked naked in their brooding sensuality; without defence of their own and abandoned to their helplessness by the small unaggressive chin beneath, a chin with a small indent at its point. She had a fine healthy complexion with a beautiful skin, and her silver hair seemed to enhance rather than detract from this. Several times he addressed her as "grandmother," and so Sally said, "Calling me grandmother is a bit of a mouthful Ethan, and I don't like those other titles, 'Gran,' 'Nanna' or 'nan,' so how would it be if you called me Sally?" Ethan, who had rather liked the idea of having a grandmother, wasn't sure about calling her Sally; on the other hand, she was so far from the image of a grandmother he had arrived with that it might be better to accept her suggestion. "Okay Sally," he grinned. Sally had also been taking her inventory of Ethan's looks. "Yes, a good looking boy," she thought. "Thank God he doesn't take after his father in looks; more like Angel -- no, more like his grandfather, Michael." For one moment she wondered if Angel and Michael had ever...but no, not after all the fuss they'd made about her. "Still, you never know," she thought, "But that would be too hypocritical even for them." After they had washed up they retired to the lounge, which lived up to its name as being a place to lounge in. It had two deep soft leather armchairs, and a large divan covered with velvety upholstery the same colour as the armchairs. The outside wall consisted of a window that spanned the width of the room. It was dusk by then, but Ethan could see beyond the window a slightly sloping garden running down to a flat area that had a swimming pool and a summer house. Beyond that was a brush fence over which he could see the bay with its two headlands stretching out to sea. He realised that beyond the fence the land must drop away steeply to the beach. The most striking feature of the room was the oil painting of a woman. She was sitting in a high backed chair with her forearms resting along the arms of the chair. She was wearing a slightly mannish suit with the coat buttons undone, and her hair was cut short. Her face was strong with well defined features and about the corners of her full lipped sensual mouth a smile seemed to hover. Ethan thought that she looked about thirty years of age, and there was something very seductive, almost challenging, about her. "Who's that?" he asked. "Oh, that's Claudia," and without explaining further Sally said quickly, "would you like to see the rest of the house?" "Yes," Ethan replied, wondering why she hadn't said more about Claudia. The passage ran laterally in keeping with the elongated shape of the house. The bedrooms were at the front of the house, other rooms at the rear. The large bath room unexpectedly had two showers; in addition there was an ordinary bath, an in-ground spa bath and jutting from the wall was what looked vaguely like a toilet pan, but clearly wasn't. "What's that?" he asked. "That...oh...that's a bidet," Sally said without further explanation. They inspected two small bedrooms with single beds in them, and then he was shown Sally's bedroom. If his bedroom was ambivalent about its gender orientation, there was no doubt about Sally's room; it was undoubtedly feminine with its soft warm colours. It had a bed the same shape as his, and it also had a mirror in the ceiling, but not only in the ceiling, but on the wall opposite the bed was another large mirror. They came to the end of the passage and entered a room whose function could not be doubted, it was an artist's studio. "Are you an artist?" Ethan asked. "Yes, I painted that portrait of Claudia, but I mostly do water colour landscapes and seascapes these days. They sell them in the tourist shop in town." At one end of the room was a door, and given the size of the house there had to be a room behind the door, but Sally made no attempt to open the door to show him. Returning to the lounge Ethan failed to stifle a yawn. "You've had a long day," Sally said, "I expect you'll want to go to bed." "Yes, a good idea," Ethan replied. "By the way, I always go for a run along the beach in the morning, perhaps you'd like to join me." Running had never been Ethan's first choice when it came to exercise. He held to the theory that the best form of exercise was sex, and he seemed to prove the theory by looking in good shape. However, he thought he'd better display a macho image, and so as casually as he could he asked, "How far do you run?" "About six kilometres," Sally replied. "We're about equidistant between both headlands, and they're both around three kilometres from here." Ethan was both appalled and amazed. He was appalled at the idea of anyone running that far, or more accurately, him running that far, and was amazed that a grandmother should even contemplate such strenuous activity. Gathering together his badly shaken machismo he replied, "Yes, I'll join you." It was a decision he was to later regret. There was some hesitation when it came to saying goodnight. For a moment it looked as if they were going to kiss, but they veered away from this and simply said "Goodnight" to each other. Ethan went straight off to sleep and dreamed of withered old ladies turning into bikini clad beach lovelies and then back to withered old ladies again. * * * * * * * * When he woke in the morning in a strange bed of peculiar shape, for a moment he wondered where he was. As the mists of sleep dissolved he realised where he was and that he was stopping with a rather unlikely grandmother. Many grandsons would be pleased to have a well preserved grandmother, but Ethan felt a touch of resentment, as if Sally had no right to look so good at her age -- whatever that was. He rose and tugging on his dressing gown he went to the bathroom. It seemed that Sally had been there before him as the mirror was still slightly steamy. He decided that the bath and the spa bath were not for the morning, and so he chose to shower. He then shaved with some care, brushed his teeth, and then speculated about the thing Sally had called a "bidet." It had two taps and a central spout. Experimentally he sat on it and then rather unwisely he toyed with one of the taps. He leapt from the bidet with a cry of pain as a jet of hot water nearly scalded his anus. Now at least he had some idea of the use the bidet was put to. He returned to his bedroom and hopeful of maintaining the good image he was trying to create, he put on clean jeans and a white shirt. Entering the kitchen Ethan had to further modify his grandmother image. Sally was wearing shorts, shirt, and was barefoot. There was nothing spectacularly sexy about the shorts, except that they revealed that her long legs were slender, and had rather long, strong looking thighs. It was the shirt that caused him to get a tingling sensation in his groin. It displayed a little more cleavage than the shirt she had worn the previous day, and it moulded rather nicely to her breasts that were unfettered and covered though they were, gave the impression of being those of a well bosomed eighteen year old girl. This racked up Ethan's mild resentment a notch. This was not grandmotherly and she had no right to give him an incipient erection. He ignored the fact that he was responding in an un-grandsonly way. Just like most men, he blamed the woman. Sally was stirring something grey and sticky in a saucepan. On enquiring what it was Sally said it was porridge, and that she nearly always had it for breakfast. Spending Time with Grandmother Ethan looked upon it doubtfully. He had never seen, much less tasted porridge. His usual breakfast was Coco Sweetie Pops from which a considerate manufacturer had removed all nutrition, and this grey clag did not appeal. Sally doled out some dollops of porridge into two bowls and they sat at the counter on bar stools to eat and Sally asked conversationally, "Do you often have porridge?" "'Ever 'ad it 'efore," Ethan said through a mouthful of the viscous clag. "What never!" Sally exclaimed; "do you like it?" "Sor 'ight," Nathan replied, trying to keep on the good side of Sally. Sally eyed his clothes and said, "Are you going running in those?" Ethan had forgotten the running and for a moment he floundered before saying, "Oh...I...er...intend to change before we go." Sally looked at him curiously and asked, "Do you often go running?" Ethan swallowed and said; "No, not often, I'm more the gym type," which was not true unless sharing a bed with a woman could be classified as going to a gym. "I usually run before breakfast," Sally said, "but I thought I'd better make it after breakfast this morning so you could sleep in for a bit." Ethan thought that this sounded ominous. He had risen at about eight o'clock, and by his normal standards that was the middle of the night. "Would you like herbal tea or decaffeinated coffee?" Sally asked. During his flower child phase when he was sixteen Ethan had drunk copious quantities of herbal tea that purported to be marigold tea. When at seventeen he had entered upon his neo-Nazi phase he had renounced herbal tea for ever, and resorted to beer and schnapps, which were the favoured drinks of the other three members of his Nazi cell. At eighteen he had become a communist and drank vodka neat. At nineteen he had abjured communism in favour of Uncle Sam and took to drinking coke. Decaffeinated coffee had never come over his horizon, although there was probably some political organisation that favoured it. To drink or not to drink? that was the question. He was on the verge of another change in his life, and what more suitable than..."I only drink water at breakfast time," he said. "Excellent," Sally responded enthusiastically, "I'll join you." As she filled two glasses with water poor Ethan realised what he had done; he had condemned himself to water for breakfast for the rest of his stay. He helped Sally to wash up, and he got the saucepan to clean. The removal of the porridge proved to be difficult, especially in the corners. He recalled how easy it was to wash up after Coco Sweetie Pops; you only had to rinse the plate, and when the packet was empty throw away. He retired to his room to change. He had only brought two pairs of shorts with him. The tight fitting pink ones from his flower child days which allowed for an excellent display of his manly assets, and the khaki ones from his Neo-Nazi days. In deference to Sally he chose the Khaki, but still thought it would serve her right if he wore the pink ones since she was wearing such an immodest shirt. As Sally was bare foot Ethan decided he would also be without foot covering; a decision he would shortly repent. Joining Sally in the kitchen they then made their way down the garden and through a gate in the back fence. Ethan had been right about the land sloping down steeply beyond the fence. It was covered with low scrub, and as they proceeded down the air was rent by a series of "Ows" "Ohs" and "Ouches" emanating from Ethan as his feet came into contact with stones, sticks and prickles. He concluded that the soles of Sally's feet must resemble a rhinoceros hide. On the beach he sat down and removed a number of spikes from the soles of his feet. Sally point to the left and said, "We'll run to that headland and back." Ethan was aghast; to his eyes the headland seemed at least twenty kilometres away. It was in fact about three kilometres as Sally had said. "We'll take it easy this morning, Sally said, setting off at a speed Ethan judged to be about 20 kmph (actually around 8 kmph). He made it to about two thirds of the way to the headland and then collapsed onto the sand. "I...pant...can't...qasp...go any...pant...farther...gasp...pant..." Sally surveyed him for a few moments and then said, "Not very fit, are you? You wait here." She sped off towards the headland while Ethan watched her diminishing figure. Two bikini clad girls spread towels on the sand near him and sat down. As they sat, chattering and giggling Ethan scrutinized them. They reminded him that he hadn't copulated for nearly a fortnight; hand jobs were okay but never really replaced the real thing. "I wouldn't mind having it off with that one with the big boobs," he thought. "No, perhaps the other one; they're not as big but they look firmer and she got the best legs." He let his imagination roam up those legs. The girl had flame red hair and he wondered if it was real or dyed and what colour her pubic hair was. The colour of pubic hair always gave them away because they never thought to dye it, like the older woman he'd had an affair with for a while. She had blonde hair, but when he saw her pubic hair it was a dull mousy colour. Sally's hair was silver, "Is her pubic hair silver as well?" he wondered. The girl with the big boobs caught him looking at them and said something to her friend. They rose and made their way to the water, waggling their buttocks seductively. "Mmm, perhaps the one with the big boobs after all," he decided, "she's got the best bum." Sally interrupted his reverie, "Come on Ethan, we'll walk back." He reluctantly withdrew his gaze from the girls who were just about to enter the water. There were more ouches as they went up the slope, and in the kitchen Ethan picked more prickles from the soles of his feet. "Herbal tea or decaffeinated coffee?" Sally asked. Ethan wondered why ordinary tea was not classified as herbal, since it grew on bushes, but he asked for decaffeinated coffee. "I've got some domestic chores to do," Sally said, "so why don't you have a look around the place for a while, and then we can decide what to do this afternoon." * * * * * * * * Ethan wandered round the outside of the house. It stood on nearly half an acre of land and he decided that his grandmother must be financially well off to be able to afford the house and the land. He noticed that there was a chicken run but no chickens; the front garden had well tended flower beds and at the back there were more flower beds close to the house. Along one side and close to the fence were what he took to be vegetable patches, but they were covered with weeds. He took another look at the array of tools in the garage, and concluded that they were a mixture of carpenter's, bricklayer's and mechanic's tools. He tried to imagine Sally using the tools, but the image didn't fit, so who was the wielder of the tools? A layer of dust seemed to indicate that they had not been used for some time. He heard Sally call from the backdoor, "Lunch is ready Ethan." They sat down to chestnut soup, and Ethan wondered if Sally's fine complexion was due to her vegetarian diet. "Would you like to go for a swim this afternoon?" Sally asked. "Okay," Ethan replied, wondering if the two girls he had seen on the beach were still around. He conjured up a mental image of them and was still undecided which one he would prefer, the one with the big boobs or the other one. Ideally he supposed, having both of them would be the best thing. When they finished lunch and had cleared up Ethan went to his room to change. He had only one pair of swimming shorts, and these were very short indeed. He was of the opinion that they showed his substantial manly assets off to good effect, and were a lure for females. Whether that was true or not might be arguable, but certainly Ethan had ever since puberty been rather successful with women, his preference being for older but well preserved women whom, he considered, to be much more giving and energetic in their love making. He put on the swimming shorts and then put the khaki shorts on over them. Having learned his lesson he also put on a pair of sandals. Sally was waiting for him in the kitchen. She was wearing a colourful striped beach coat and was holding two beach towels, one of which she tossed to him and said, "Let's go." Ethan managed to negotiate the scrub covered slope without pain, and on the beach they spread their towels. Preparatory for swimming Ethan took off his khaki shorts, but a moment later he wished he hadn't. Sally removed her beach coat, and Ethan stared at her in amazement. True she was wearing a one piece bathing costume that would have been perfectly respectable if it had not been made up of about ninety percent gauzy material. Even the cloth that covered her breasts and sex organ was very flimsy. Ethan felt the warning tingle in his groin that presaged an erection. Up rose his manly member, struggling to escape from the imprisonment of his swimming shorts. The shorts seemed to be having difficulty in retaining the feral beast. Fortunately Sally said, "Come on, let's swim," and ran down the beach into the water. By the time Ethan got to the water Sally was swimming strongly away from him. He followed her, but clearly she was a stronger swimmer than him and he couldn't catch up with her. Not only was she stronger, but she had more stamina since she kept going for some time after Ethan had to stop. The impact of the cold water had reduced Ethan's penis to manageable proportions, so he returned to the beach and started to dry himself. Sally joined him, and it started again. She was standing there drying her hair with her arms raise. This gave an extra lift to her breasts that already had enough lift to cause a monk to forget his vow of celibacy. Ethan quickly spread his towel on the sand and lay face down on it so as to hide his wayward penis. After a while Sally spread her towel and lay beside him. Ethan's resentment was ratchet up another notch. She had no right to wear a swimming costume like that, but he wasn't sure what sort of swim wear was suitable for a grandmother. Perhaps there should be a law against grandmothers swimming then the question of what to wear would not arise. He tried not to look at her, but could not resist a peek. She was lying on her back, eyes closed and her arms raised and hands behind her head. Her breasts were elevated again and the flimsy cloth covering her breasts was still wet and semi-transparent and hinted at ripe nipples. His first full day with his grandmother and already he wanted to copulate with her. "I must be depraved," he told himself, "wanting to hump my own grandmother." He was reminded of the three other peoples' grandmothers he had humped, but of course, it was different when it came to your own grandmother. He had read somewhere that people don't have sexual desire for blood relatives, but if that was so, why was there so much in the media about incest? It was difficult because he'd never consciously seen his grandmother before and it was not easy to take her on board as a blood relative. It was as if she was just some woman he had met and was staying with. He gave up the thought and the idea of not looking at Sally, and tormented himself by letting his eyes roam over her body and features. He knew quite well that if she had not been his grandmother, now would have been the time to attempt a seduction. Sally's eyes opened and she turned her head to look at Ethan and caught him staring at her. A slight smile hovered over her lips and she said, "Shall we go back to the house?" Ethan, embarrassed that she had caught him surveying her he said, "Yes, fine." He draped the towel round his waist to hide his discomfiture and together they made their way to the house. Back inside Ethan hurried to his bedroom and stripping off his khaki shorts and his swimming shorts he lay on the bed and masturbated. As he prepared to ejaculate he tried to fantasise the two girls he'd seen on the beach that morning, but Sally's image kept intervening. When he had finished he continued to lay on his back staring up at the ceiling, his hand still on his penis. His sperm that on first being discharged had been warm now grew cold and uncomfortably sticky. He used his towel to remove it and then rose and put on jeans and a shirt. Sally was in the kitchen preparing a potato pie. She was still wearing her beach coat so Ethan could look at her in relative safety. Having got the pie ready she put it in the oven to cook, and saying, "I'd better go and change," she left him. Ethan wandered into the lounge and for a while stood contemplating the portrait of the mysterious Claudia. "Who is she?" he wondered. Sally had seemed reluctant to talk about her but she must have been significant in Sally's life or why should she have her portrait hanging there? On first seeing the portrait Ethan had been struck by Claudia's seductive, even predatory look as she seemed to gaze out of the picture at the viewer. He found himself both attracted and repelled by the picture but could not understand why. He gave up trying to analyse the portrait and his response to it, but was determined to try and get Sally to say more about Claudia. He went back into the kitchen to find Sally clearing up the utensils she had used when making the pie. She had changed into a white loose fitting dress that hung from the points of her breasts in lengthwise folds down to just below her knees. Ethan's resentment boiled up again. He wondered if she knew what he was feeling about her, and was deliberately tantalising him. He sat at the table watching her. With every movement her breasts seemed to vibrate. He was about to return to his bedroom to deal with his erection when Sally announced that the pie was ready. * * * * * * * * After the meal they retired to the lounge and seeing the picture of Claudia, Ethan had it in mind to ask Sally about her, but he had another burning question that took priority. "Sally," he said, "in your letter you said you'd tell me about the rift between you and the rest of the family; is now the right time?" She sighed and said, "I knew you'd ask me about that some time and now is probably the best time. If we are to establish any sort of ongoing relationship its best you know the truth. She glanced at the portrait and said, "It was really all about Claudia." "Claudia?" Ethan echoed, feeling that he was about to kill two birds with one stone. "Yes, it was not long after you were born and Claudia came to me to have her portrait painted. During the sittings when you're painting someone's portrait you get to know your subject rather well, but this time I think it was Claudia who got to know me well; so well in fact that she discovered something about me I did not know myself." "It was at the end of the last sitting; she came to me and putting her arms round me she said, 'Thank you Sally,' and then kissed me on the lips. The kiss hung on and then we were deep kissing each other. She undid the shirt she was wearing, the one you can see in the picture and she took my hands and put them on her breasts." "I'd always enjoyed sex with Michael -- your grandfather -- but I'd always felt there was something missing. That afternoon with Claudia I discovered what it was, it was to be able to fondle another woman's breasts and suck her nipples, and to have her do the same to me; it was to taste another woman's genitals, to suck her clitoris and...." Her voice faded away and it was as if she was visualizing that scene, and then she went on, "That afternoon Claudia and I became lovers and remained lovers for twenty years." Saying "Come with me," she rose and led him to the studio and opened the door to the room she had not shown him earlier. It was like another lounge, only smaller. "This I call my private space," Sally said. "It the place I use -- or used to use -- when I wanted time to myself." Almost dominating the room were two large portraits, the subjects of which Ethan easily recognised. One was of Claudia who was naked, half sitting on a couch with some cushions at her back. She had large pendulous breasts with brown nipples; her legs were slightly parted to reveal at her groin a thick bush of pubic hair and he could see her thick lipped vulva. One arm was outstretched as if to touch the viewer with her hand. There was the hint of a smile about her lips, but it was her dark eyes that drew attention. They gazed out of the picture and in their depths could be seen a mixture of longing and lust. The other portrait was of Sally. She too was naked and lying elegantly stretched out on a couch or bed, her long shapely legs on display. Her body was half turned to the viewer and one hand was resting on her mons, with her forefinger reaching out to touch the top of her vulva that was without pubic hair so Ethan did not get the answer to his previous conjecture about the colour of her pubic hair. Her other hand lay over a breast, her first and second finger parted, and between them a ripe pink nipple. It was as if she was deliberately and invitingly drawing attention to those erogenous zones. As Ethan looked from one picture to the other he realised that the subjects were not looking at the viewer. They had been painted and hung so that they were looking at each other. He turned to Sally; "You painted these pictures?" "Yes, I painted Claudia from life, but she took a photograph of me and I painted myself from that." There was a long pause before Sally said, "So you see how it was." "Yes, you were very much in love." "Yes, but there was a complication." "Complication?" "Yes, you see, I discovered I was bi." "Bi?" "Bisexual, I wanted Claudia and Michael. Claudia understood that and accepted it. She had no interest in men but we talked about having a threesome; even worked out some of the things we would be able to do just so long as Michael didn't want to penetrate her. Sally laughed bitterly, and went on, "I was naïve enough to believe that because Claudia could accept my need for Michael, if I put it to him carefully he'd understand my need for Claudia. It was stupid of me, but I suppose you think like that when the emotions are running high." "And?" "He was horrified; he said I'd been unfaithful to him, which of course I had, but then he started to call me every foul name he could think of - said he'd never come near me again and the sooner we separated the better." "So that's why...." "That isn't all Ethan. He went to Angel and her husband and told them, and every other member of the family and our friends. Angel said she never wanted to see or hear from me again, and of course her prig of a husband had to have his say." "I seemed to be cut off from everyone except Claudia, and I suppose I had what people used to call a nervous breakdown. Claudia bought this place and we came here to live, and we lived here ever since as lovers." Sally stopped speaking, and looked at Ethan as if she expected him to say something. When he remained silent she went on, "When she died she..." "She's dead then?" "Yes, nearly eighteenth months ago, cancer. The last six months of her life were terrible. She'd been so strong and vital, and to see her fade away...She was very well off and she left everything to me, but I felt so lost and lonely without her." Again she waited for Ethan to speak; still remained silent. "Let's go back to the lounge," she said, "you've seen what I needed you to see." * * * * * * * * In the lounge they seated themselves in the armchairs and at last Ethan spoke. "You said that you're bisexual, did you ever want to have a man in your life again?" Spending Time with Grandmother "Yes, sometimes. Claudia tried to help me; she sometimes used a strap on dildo, but it was just a piece of vibrating plastic, and it's no substitute for the real thing." "You know Ethan, Claudia taught me so much about love and the beauty of sex, so I have no real reason to complain. She made sex so exciting because you were never sure when it was going happen." "There was never any 'Let's go to bed and make love.' In a sense you could say we made love much of the time. We were always stroking and touching each other and sometimes it would lead to the full thing...you know orgasms, and at other times we were just content to caress and explore each other, but it was never hurried. She used to say we should enjoy the journey as much as the arrival. " Sally smiled sadly and went on, "Claudia was not much interest in vaginal penetration, but when she did want it, it was my fingers she wanted in her." Sally smiled again and added, "She even told me once that my long fingers were the first thing she fell in love with." "Of course she was really the masculine aspect of our relationship and I was the feminine. She dug out and lined the swimming pool and built the summer house. She was always making or repairing things. "The tools!" Ethan exclaimed. "Yes they were her tools. She kept chickens and looked after the vegetable patches while I looked after the flower beds. After she died I didn't seem to have the motivation to pick up her jobs, and so...well, you've probably noticed." "What happened to grandfather?" "After he divorced me he went overseas. I believe he died there but I'm not sure; he was a lot older than me." "You know Ethan, when I learned that your parents had been killed, I saw it as a chance to have someone in my life, some blood relative. I've told you about myself and what happened and I'm glad I have because I think you and I could get very fond of each other, but if you were going to reject me, then its better now than later when the pain would only be worse." She fell silent and was clearly expecting a response from Ethan. For a while he looked down at the floor, as if deep in thought, and then raising his head and looking at Sally he said, "Of course these day's people aren't so prejudiced against gay relationships the way they once were." Sally smiled sadly and said, "Wrong timing." Ethan shrugged and said, "If it's done in love, then it's never the wrong time for those involved." Those who had known Ethan might have been surprised at this insight. His sexual relationships had been lust rather than love based. He had even surprised himself. "I think you were quite right," he continued, "I believe we could get very fond of each other, but it's difficult." Sally looked puzzled, even a little hurt. "Why is it difficult Ethan?" she asked. "It's...it's just that...that not knowing you...only knowing you existed, and seeing you now, it's hard to relate to you as my grandmother." He did not add that her asking him to call her Sally and that her sheer appearance militated against a grandmotherly image. Sally looked relieved and said, "Well let's not try to force the grandson-grandmother relationship, let's just work on becoming good friends." "You mean, let's get to know each other and see how it turns out?" "That is just what I mean, Ethan." * * * * * * * * Over the following fortnight they ran, walked and swam together. Ethan even got fitter and could manage to run all the way to the headland, although he could still only make it running to about halfway back. Sally showed him the bays and inlets along the coast; they walked over the tracks in the nearby hills, and sometimes Sally would sit painting the scene while Ethan watched her, or rambled off by him self. He seemed to settle into life with Sally, even getting used to eating porridge and drinking water. Herbal tea he continued to renounce and he only just managed to accept the decaffeinated coffee (wasn't coffee from a plant as well?). Their decision to not deliberately strive for a grandson-grandmother relationship had both a positive and a negative effect on him. Positively it freed him to look at her as he would any other woman, that is, as a sexual being with always the possibility of a sexual relationship occurring. Negatively, and in this he surprised himself, he started to feel the need for a long term relationship with Sally, and this had never been his intention in any of his past sexual relationships. Together with this was the plain fact, that despite their intention to keep their relationship at the level of friendship, they were blood related. In the past what had passed for friendship with a female had invariably involved sex, and Ethan found that once sexual intercourse had taken place a few times, his feelings of friendship for the girl or woman quickly faded, and he was ready to pass on the next relationship. He had never been, as he saw it, trapped by a female, but now, with Sally, he began to sense that the tender trap of love was closing in around him. For one who had never experienced love in this way it was both exciting and frightening. Several times he decided to end his visit with Sally, but he only had to be in her presence again to have the decision dissolve into nothingness. Sally made it no easier partly because of whom she was, a rather lovely person, but also because she dressed in such a liberated way she often had Ethan in a state of sexual frustration. They had overcome their earlier inhibitions about physically touching , but her embrace and kiss, was not only pleasurable to Ethan, but added to his sexual feelings for her. Ethan, as he put it to himself, was unable to "read" Sally. In the past he seemed to know instinctively if a female was attracted to him sexually, and again, in his words, was ready to "come across." If he did not get these signals he simply passed on to someone more responsive. He felt he was getting mixed signals from Sally but when it came to the point, he was not willing to pass on. As those who have experienced such a situation and feelings will know, it is not possible to go on in such an ambivalent atmosphere -- eventually something has to give way, and give way it did. * * * * * * * * One day just over a fortnight into his stay with Sally and after lunch, Sally said, "Shall we use the swimming pool and summer house this afternoon?" Ethan had wondered why they had not used the pool before this. Sally kept it clean, and Ethan had learned to use the greedy little machine that gobbled up swimming pool detritus. Unknowingly Sally answered his question about the pool's usage. "The pool and summer house were so much part of Claudia; she built them and after she died they seemed to still hold her. Every time I went to use them I cried, and in the end I couldn't use them." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "I suppose they became a shrine to her memory, but somehow I feel free to use them now." "You can't mourn of ever," Ethan said, "not if you're a normally healthy person." "No," Sally said, and then seeming to shake off her dark mood said, "Anyway it's a hot day and it would be too uncomfortable on the beach and the summer house is shady." They went to their rooms to change, and since they were going to be completely private Ethan wore only his swimming shorts. He arrived at the pool before Sally, and he notice she'd put two air mattresses on the floor of he summer house. He sat at the edge of the pool dangling is feet in the water, waiting for Sally. He heard her arrive. She dropped two towels in the summer house and came to sit beside him. He glanced at her and smiled, and then the smile faded. Sally was wearing only a thong that resembled a minute G-string and bras that barely covered her nipples. As Ethan saw it, she might as well not have worn anything. The emotional effect on him was devastating. If on previous occasions she had aroused him, this time he felt it to be almost beyond endurance. He almost hated her for arousing him in this way, and as the head of his penis threatened to emerge out of the top of his swimming shorts he flung himself into the water. Sally followed and would have played with him, but he kept avoiding her. He knew now he had to leave Dolphin Heads and Long House, for if he didn't his frustration would eventually explode and there would be a second rift in his family life experience. No, better to stick to letters, emails and perhaps telephone conversations. * * * * * * * * He got out of the pool before Sally and went into the summer house. After drying himself he lay down on one of the mattresses, determined that this was the time he would tell Sally he was leaving. He lay face down so that Sally would not see his erection, and when she entered the summer house he kept his eyes away from her, knowing that looking at her would only arouse him further. Women had aroused him before, but never like this. It was ridiculous -- a woman who must be thirty...no perhaps forty years his senior, and he was like a virgin youth aware of a female body for the first time. She finished drying her self and he felt rather than saw her lay on the other mattress beside him. She was very close. He was in turmoil, his penis throbbing, his testes protesting, demanding an outlet for their burden. He felt her hand touch his shoulder and she said almost in a whisper, "Ethan darling." "What?" he said in muffled voice, not daring to look at her. "Isn't it time for us to speak the truth to each other?" "We have...we have..." he said, a sharp edge of anger in his voice, anger less focused now on her, but more on himself for being unable to master the powerful emotions that racked him. Still speaking very softly Sally said, "No darling, we've talked about the past, or at least I have, but I mean, we need to talk about the present, about the here and now, you and I." "What is there to say?" Ethan replied, his voice hoarse with emotion. "Look at me Ethan," Sally said, her voice taking on a peremptory note. Ethan did not move; he didn't dare look, fearing what seeing her would do to him. Sally spoke again more firmly, "Look-at-me-Ethan." This time he turned his head towards her. Her face was very near to his and with a sharp intake of his breath he saw that she had removed her minuscule bras, her breasts were naked. "We must have the courage to face the truth, Ethan," Sally said, her voice once more a whisper. "What truth?" "I think you know Ethan, in fact I can see you know, so must I say it, put it in simple terms?" "If you have something to say, Sally, then say it and let's have done with it," Ethan snapped. "Very well; you love me, you want me, and you have wanted me from soon after you arrived here. You've tortured yourself trying to hide what you've felt and are feeling, but you can't hide it from me, and it's so foolish to go on trying to hide it." "Why foolish?" Ethan said, rather taken aback that she had summed up so clearly how he felt about her. Sally's hand touched his penis; "Foolish because you can't really hide this. I've seen it like this so many times and wondered why you made no move to make love with me." "Be-because you...you...you're my..." "Grandmother? Yes, but we met virtually as strangers and we've agreed we would seek friendship and not blood relationship. I waited for you to approach me, but today I knew I must approach you." "You mean...mean you want me to...to..." "Darling, I told you that this place had become a sort of shrine to Claudia, it took some courage for me to suggest that we use the pool and this summer house." "Then why did you suggest it?" "Because I had to know, Ethan." "Know what?" "If the time had come to let Claudia go." "And have you?" "Yes, I know that the time has come to go forward in my life, I can let the past go, and I might as well tell you, I want it to go forward with you. Oh, I know about the age difference; I may only have you for a short time, but for as long as you want me I'll be here for you." Sally hand had remained on his penis and she began to slowly massage it. Ethan finally spoke the words he had held back, "I love you Sally." "I know my darling, and we should confirm our love." She ceased massaging his penis and drawing down his swimming shorts she threw them aside and then quickly sat astride him. Ethan could see that she had removed her thong, and fascinated he watched her naked cleft descend on to his penis. He saw his length slowly enter her and felt the welcoming warmth of her wet tunnel as she seemed to suck his manhood into her. She knew that Ethan had already almost reached the point of no return, and smiling down at him she said, "This one is all for you darling, don't try and hold back, just let it go, put it all in me." Ethan couldn't have held back however much he wanted to. His need was too urgent and it was made more urgent by a sense that this was truly an act of love. Sally was moving in an upward and downward movement that seemed to be combined with a slight roiling motion. Above him she spoke --almost sang -- "Let it go my love...let it go..." His body obeyed; his testes released their burden and sperm spurted out of his urethra. He had never experienced such a powerful ejaculation before, and as Sally felt his semen hammering into her, her refrained changed. "Yes darling yes....yes...let it all go...in me my love..." With a long drawn out sigh Ethan finished. Sally leaned forward until her breasts touched his chest and began to press moist kisses over his face. Ethan's hands closed over her breasts, feeling their firmness and warmth. "You're so beautiful Sally," he murmured. Sally felt the threat of tears. "If only I could have met him when I was young," she thought, "there might have been no Michael or Claudia, no years of family separation, no..." But what was the use, the past could not be recalled, the years couldn't be peeled away like the skin of a banana or the layers of an onion. "Let him see me as beautiful," she thought, "and I'll enjoy what I can." As if he had heard her thoughts Ethan's penis was hardening again. She continued to lay over him, this time flicking her vagina over his length with short sharp movements of her hips. Before he was ready to come again she felt the first warning signs of her approaching orgasm. The first little tingling shocks rapidly becoming tremors that seemed to posses her whole body. Ethan felt her approaching orgasm as her movements became more rapid. He thrust upward against her downward movements but he was puzzled when the full force of her climax struck. He was accustomed to screamers and groaners, who lost in their own pleasure and pain, seemed to be disassociated from him. Sally did not scream and although her eyes were shut her gentle cries indicated she was still with him. "Oh darling...beautiful...beautiful...I love you...I love you...oh...oh...I need you...oh...oh...ooohaaa..." Over the peak Sally moved more slowly and her cries took on a crooning sound, "Mmm...mmmah....mmm...mmmah..." It was during the final stages of Sally's orgasm that Ethan came. Feeling it approaching Sally speeded up her movement again but with longer strokes. Feeling him about to ejaculate she thrust down hard on him to take the first ejection deep into her. Ethan's hands were on her hips forcing her on to him even more deeply. He had the strange sensation that they were one -- one body being finally fulfilled. With each new expulsion of semen he moaned, "I love you...I love you..." * * * * * * * * As Sally felt his sperm entering her she thought, "What a pity he can't make me pregnant." But she knew that it was one of the many things she would not be able to have with him. She consoled herself with the thought that she could at least give him her love and body. She felt that his love was confirmed when after they were both relaxed and at peace, Ethan did not attempt to withdraw his penis from her. Even Michael though he stayed with her until her orgasm was complete, had withdrawn once it was over. With Claudia the moment of separation had been less well defined. She drew his lips to hers and deep kissing him she slowly explored his mouth with her tongue. His hands were on her breasts, caressing them, his fingers oh so gently pressing her nipples. When finally they separated it was to have him sucking her nipples as she tenderly held his head to her wishing she had mothers milk to feed him with -- something else that could never be. They dozed for a while and then retired to the bathroom where they used the bubbling spa bath that was like a small swimming pool. There, as Sally held on to the rail that ran round the bath, Ethan, standing in front of her, put his hands under her buttocks, and raised up her sweet cleft to his mouth and began to suck and lick her. When his tongue found her clitoris she promised her self the pleasure of sucking his penis and feeling his cum burst into her mouth, something she had not experienced since Michael, but that could come later. Again he brought her to orgasm and her soft cries were mingled with tears of joy. When inviting him to visit her there had been no thought of this sort of love. Love with Claudia had been beautiful, but this...? Later that day, after Sally had finished giving Ethan fellatio and she had washed out her mouth, on returning to bed Ethan was asleep. Looking at him Sally wondered about her sexual orientation. She had spent twenty years with Claudia and they had been wonderful years; would she at some time need another Claudia? For as long as Ethan was with her and needed her, she thought not. How long would their sexual love last? What would it become when it was over? Her looks and physique had served her well, but she was not so foolish as to believe that they would last like that for ever. She shrugged mentally, "Take what life gives you," she thought. She smiled and kissed Ethan softly on his forehead, then turned off the bed light. She lay down with the thought, "Perhaps he will want to make love with me in the morning." She smiled again and murmured, "And I shall be ready for him." She pressed close to Ethan and slept.